Broward parents accuse music teacher of molesting son

Lawsuit says Miami archdiocese didn't take action after complaints

MIAMI — A Broward County couple who say a former music teacher at a Catholic school molested their son is suing the Archdiocese of Miami.

In a complaint filed Wednesday in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, the parents, identified only as Mother Doe No. 72 and Father Doe No. 72, say their son, John Doe No. 72, was molested several times last summer during private music lessons in his home by Miguel Cala, who taught music at St. Andrew's Catholic School and parish in Coral Springs. The boy was 11.

"Cala used his position as a teacher and music minister to identify potential victims, and he used these positions to gain trust of the victims and their families," states the lawsuit, filed by Aventura attorney Jeffrey Herman.

Herman has filed dozens of sex-abuse lawsuits against the archdiocese, including two similar lawsuits in November and October that say Cala sexually abused two other boys from the school.

The latest lawsuit says that the school and archdiocese had received complaints about Cala since 2000 and that the archdiocese undertook "no investigation or responsive action."

In a prior lawsuit, Herman released a Feb. 23, 2010, letter, written by a pediatrician of one of Cala's students to school administrators, that said Cala "routinely insults, threatens and intimidates" students.

The letter said the student "expresses great reluctance" to go to school and asked for an investigation. The letter did not mention sexual abuse.

Cala, 37, resigned from St. Andrew's in May and is in jail awaiting trial on charges of lewd and lascivious molestation of a victim under age 12 and lewd or lascivious conduct.

He was arrested on Sept. 3, the day he turned himself in to police in Virginia after leaving South Florida in August when the charges were filed.

The charges that led to his arrest were related to a St. Andrew's student who was allegedly molested during an off-campus tutoring session in August.

"The Archdiocese of Miami and St. Andrew School have cooperated fully with the Broward Sheriff's Office," archdiocesan spokeswoman Mary Ross Agosta said in a statement released Wednesday.

The school notified parents of Cala's arrest on Sept. 7, she said, telling them to "reach out to their children and speak to them about inappropriate behavior."

"As always, the Catholic Church's concerns are for the victims and a prevailing sense of justice," the statement said.